It has been common practice in the art of weapons to manufacture handguns and other firearms from different hard materials, such as different metals, with or without a combination of wood or hard plastics. This combination of materials has several advantages, such as saving money and time in production, reducing weight and other benefits.
Starting in the late 1970's, early 1980's, different handgun manufacturers like Glock, Steyr, Walther, H&K, Taurus and others started producing firearms and mainly handguns from different hard polymers. In the prior art, polymer handguns are made of one single type of polymer, with all portions of the polymer body having the same basic hardness.